Yea but then blessing of Malassa would add just the +5 resistance on a certain school, or in other words would be utterly useless.
That blessing is not something you get soon in the game and since there are generally better NPC options to use, I can't imagine someone would go play the game without freemage in the party.

Originally Posted by Drithius
This is one part of the game I don't really like; they should have tied it to perception and not forced you into a specific hireling or a spell available to only one of the twelve classes.

I think the big problem was only giving Dark magic to one class. It makes Freemage practically required. They should have had two other classes with that skill, at least at expert level (Mercenary and Shaman perhaps)? As it is now, Freemage has so many magic choices it makes most other spellcasters at least somewhat inferior.

Originally Posted by Caidh
I think the big problem was only giving Dark magic to one class. It makes Freemage practically required. They should have had two other classes with that skill, at least at expert level (Mercenary and Shaman perhaps)? As it is now, Freemage has so many magic choices it makes most other spellcasters at least somewhat inferior.

Completely agree…why does it hurt to give other classes dark magic…

Well, I asked that on reddit…their answer was…

We wanted the Freemage to have exclusive access to one of the Magic Schools since it is supposed to be the most versatile magic user.

Doesn't make too much sense imho.

For me it's a save/load fest. I buy a couple of scrolls (always in sorpigal as they are cheapest there) and in the dungeon I use one after another and mark down the secret passages. Then I load and try to use the scrolls as effectively as possible to open them. Now as I am at 250k Gold I don't need to be that penny-pinching anymore, but still…

BTW: Found ONE trap in the game so far
And this one seemed to be connected with bugged content.

I've been playing without a freemage, but my obsessiveness basically forces me into googling "secret door" + <insert dungeon name here> every now and again… at least until I get a replacement for the first loremaster hireling. Dumb design.

The secret door methodology + Ambushes from the sky are my two pet peeves right now.

My "nearly all dwarf" party goes without freemage, and I agree the lack of this spell is a PITA. If I ever get round to writing a review of this one, class balancing is sadly my main criticism - the lack of 2handed weapon support in dwarfs, for example, so dwarfs can't use battleaxes is equally bizarre.

The scrolls help, and are cheap. Also, if you turn off torchlight, you sometimes see oddities which indicate secrets - I used this coupled with scrolls to find everything in the Tower of Engima. Scrolls seem to restock regularly at stores, so it's not too arduous to have a supply with you, although I do agree about the tendency to save/reload

I haven't found this NPC they mention, but I'm only half way through the game, so I suspect he'll be around the next corner.

I don't use a freemage either and don't complain about it. You have options like scrolls or spike (which I hired by the way) so no problem.

My only complain is that it's not easy to increase your perception for a short while with magic or potions for the cogs passages. My characters don't invest much in perception, as you can raise your attack easier with your weapon skill anyway . So I always have to leave most of those secret doors untouched

Originally Posted by Drithius
Scrolls at 400g a pop in Warrior difficulty is a bit prohibitive Especially in the early part of the game where the lack of options is more pronounced.

Are those scrolls really that expensive? I hardly buy scrolls and definitely didn't by any of those, so I'm not sure but I would say the low level ones cost about 200 gold.
Anyway, I didn't have to buy them and survived. And if you are mad about opening every secret then you can hire spike and revisit the dungeons later. You'll be unable to open lots of the secrets you discover at the time you do it anyway.

They are 200g in sorpigal, 400g in the wagon outside of it and more expensive after that. Well, you can wait for spike of course. But for that you first need to know that he exists.
I actually could open all the secrets I discovered. They are based on chances, so even without perception you will manage to open a door at the 10th or 20th try (save and load ftw). All in all these "secrets" didn't really feel like a highlight of the game. Personally I prefered the way Eye of the Beholder or similar games did it, where you as a player needed to check for oddities.

DArtagnan

Ah, no, there aren't. But each time you try to open them you lose some hitpoints which is probably like 1/3 of the hitpoints the character has. So with 4 characters you have like 12 tries and then your group would be dead if you don't heal, rest, or just load.

You take significant damage if you fail, JDR. There is an exploit that allows you to mitigate the damage; just cast regeneration before trying a "secret" passage. As long as you don't move, regeneration lasts forever.

Hrm, had no problem with that. My barb always opened them on first try with might.
My runepriest always opened magic secrets on first try with magic.
And the only tricky ones where the ones which needed perception as I didn't raise perception on any character before the last couple of dungeons.